No American writer of the 19th century was more universally enjoyed and admired than Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. His works were extraordinary bestsellers for their era, achieving fame both here and abroad. Now, for the first time in over 25 years, The Library of America offers a full-scale literary portrait of America’s greatest popular poet.

Here are the poems that created an American mythology: Evangeline in the forest primeval, Hiawatha by the shores of Gitche Gumee, the midnight ride of Paul Revere, the wreck of the Hesperus, the village blacksmith under the spreading chestnut tree, the strange courtship of Miles Standish, the maiden Priscilla and the hesitant John Alden; verses like “A Psalm of Life” and “The Children’s Hour,” whose phrases and characters have become part of the culture. Here as well, along with the public antislavery poems, are the sparer, darker lyrics—"The Fire of Drift-Wood," “Mezzo Cammin,” “Snow-Flakes,” and many others—that show a more austere aspect of Longfellow’s poetic gift.

Erudite and fluent in many languages, Longfellow was endlessly fascinated with the byways of history and the curiosities of legend. As a verse storyteller he had no peer, whether in the great book-length narratives such as Evangeline and The Song of Hiawatha (both included in full) or the stories collected in Tales of a Wayside Inn (reprinted here in a generous selection). His many poems on literary themes, such as his moving homages to Dante and Chaucer, his verse translations from Lope de Vega, Heinrich Heine, and Michelangelo, and his ambitious verse dramas, notably The New England Tragedies (also complete), are remarkable in their range and ambition.

As a special feature, this volume restores to print Longfellow’s novel Kavanagh, a study of small-town life and literary ambition that was praised by Emerson as an important contribution to the development of American fiction. A selection of essays rounds out of the volume and provides testimony of Longfellow’s concern with creating an American national literature.

J. D. McClatchy (1945–2018) was the author of many books of poetry and essays, including Plundered Hearts: New and Selected Poems (2014), and the editor of nine Library of America publications. He wrote the libretto for Ned Rorem’s operatic version of Our Town, taught at Yale University, and served as editor of The Yale Review.

This Library of America series edition is printed on acid-free paper and features Smyth-sewn binding, a full cloth cover, and a ribbon marker.

From The Voices of the Night
The Spirit of Poetry
Hymn to the Night
A Psalm of Life
The Light of Stars
Footsteps of Angels

From Ballads and Other Poems
The Skeleton in Armor
The Wreck of the Hesperus
The Village Blacksmith
It Is Not Always May
The Rainy Day
God’s-Acre
To the River Charles
The Goblet of Life
Excelsior

From Poems on Slavery
The Slave’s Dream
The Slave Singing at Midnight
The Witnesses
The Warning

From The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems
The Belfry of Bruges
A Gleam of Sunshine
The Arsenal at Springfield
Rain in Summer
To a Child
The Occultation of Orion
The Bridge
To the Driving Cloud
The Day Is Done
Afternoon in February
The Old Clock on the Stairs
The Arrow and the Song
The Evening Star
Autumn
Dante
Curfew

Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie

From The Seaside and the Fireside
The Building of the Ship
Seaweed
Chrysaor
Twilight
Sir Humphrey Gilbert
The Lighthouse
The Fire of Drift-Wood
Resignation
The Builders
Sand of the Desert in an Hour-Glass
The Open Window

The Song of Hiawatha

From The Courtship of Miles Standish and Other Poems
The Courtship of Miles Standish

Birds of Passage
The Ladder of St. Augustine
The Phantom Ship
The Warden of the Cinque Ports
Haunted Houses
In the Churchyard at Cambridge
The Emperor’s Bird’s-Nest
The Two Angels
Daylight and Moonlight
The Jewish Cemetery at Newport
My Lost Youth
The Ropewalk
Daybreak
The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz
Children
Sandalphon
The Children’s Hour
Enceladus
The Cumberland
Snow-Flakes
A Day of Sunshine
Something Left Undone
Weariness

From Tales of a Wayside Inn
Prelude: The Wayside Inn
The Landlord’s Tale: Paul Revere’s Ride
Interlude
The Student’s Tale: The Falcon of Ser Federigo
Interlude
The Spanish Jew’s Tale: The Legend of Rabbi Ben Levi
Interlude
The Sicilian’s Tale: King Robert of Sicily
Interlude
The Musician’s Tale: The Saga of King Olaf
Interlude
The Theologian’s Tale: Torquemada
Interlude
The Poet’s Tale: The Birds of Killingworth
Finale
The Spanish Jew’s Tale: Kambalu
The Student’s Tale: The Cobbler of Hagenau
The Theologian’s Tale: The Legend Beautiful

The Spanish Jew’s Tale: Azrael
The Sicilian’s Tale: The Monk of Casal-Maggiore
Finale

From Flower-de-Luce
Palingenesis
Hawthorne
Christmas Bells
The Wind Over the Chimney
Killed at the Ford
Giotto’s Tower
Divina Commedia

From Christus: A MysteryFrom The Divine Tragedy
Mount Quarantania
The Tower of Magdala
Simon Magus and Helen of Tyre
Pontius Pilate
Aceldama From The Golden Legend
A Covered Bridge at Lucerne
The Devil’s Bridge
The St. Gothard Pass
The New England Tragedies:
John Endicott
Giles Corey
Finale: Saint John

From Aftermath
The Haunted Chamber
The Meeting
Vox Populi
Changed
The Challenge
Aftermath

From The Masque of Pandora and Other Poems
Morituri Salutamus
Belisarius
Three Friends of Mine
Chaucer
Shakespeare
Milton
Keats
The Galaxy
The Sound of the Sea
A Nameless Grave
Venice
The Three Silences of Molinos

From Ke’ramos and Other Poems
Ke’ramos:
Vittoria Colonna
The Revenge of Rain-in-the-Face
Nature
Eliot’s Oak
The Poets
The Harvest Moon
The Broken Oar
Haroun al Raschid

From Ultima Thule
The Chamber Over the Gate
Jugurtha
Helen of Tyre
Elegiac
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls
My Cathedral
The Burial of the Poet
Night
The Poet and His Songs

From In the Harbor
The Poet’s Calendar
Autumn Within
Victor and Vanquished
Moonlight
Hermes Trismegistus
The Bells of San Blas

Other Poems
Mezzo Cammin

The Cross of SnowFrom Michael Angelo: A Fragment
Dedication
The Last Judgment
“I turn for consolation to the leaves”
Viterbo
“How will men speak of me when I am gone”
Monologue
In the Coliseum
The Oaks of Monte Luca
The Dead Christ